From: Walt
Date: 10/11/99
Time: 11:59:43 PM
This is a summary of the trip west. First, I want you all to know that I am doing this not to hype the fact that I got to fly and have some fun, but in hopes that I can impart some information about how the airplane we all want performs. Admittedly, this is the first customer plane and yours will likely perform even better than ours. With that I humbly submit the following:
Route - We did do pretty much as we planned.. Our route from Minneapolis to Monterey took us first to Colorado Springs (not Pueblo). We left Minneapolis (MIC) about 1 PM and were in Colorado Springs before dark. It was a bumpy, but otherwise an easy flight of about 4.5 hours (we did stop in No. Platte, NE). We got up early 6:30AM, ate and got something for our (air) dog … no she is not an Airedale! We were "wheels up" about 8 AM. We flew down to just west of Pueblo then west over the Rockies. The WX was unbelievable … not much wind, bright sunshine, and NO TURBLENCE! My bride is not into bumps. I was more pleased than she was … I want her to flew with me! Our second day route took us over Salida, CO then over Marshall Pass @ 12,500, which was the highest we ever went. Check the charts and you should find it slightly south and west of Salida. It is easy to follow. We stopped for fuel and other necessities at Grand Junction, CO … Timberline FBO (great FBO). We left for Page, AZ. We flew to Moab and down the Colorado River and over Lake Powell. Spectacular scenery. The flight took a little more 3.5 hours (I will summarize at the end) flight time from Colorado Springs to Page, AZ. The Texaco FBO was the best we have ever encountered and the price of fuel was $1.65/gallon! The next morning we again were up early (6AM … we were gaining time going west) and had wheels up at 7:30AM. We flew west to St. George, UT and down to Las Vegas. On the way we remember "that's Lake Mead country" so we flew over Lake Mead too. We wanted to overfly Hoover Dam, but were somewhat restricted due to Class B airspace, but we did get to see it albeit not from the best side. We preceded on to Santa Barbara, CA (3.5+ hours from Page, AZ .. non-stop although I was tempted) where we meet Glenn & Danielle Beltz, who had been married for less than a month and are fellow position holders. What a delightful couple. We all had some lunch in downtown SBA and left for MRY mid afternoon. We flew up the coast. Except for having to remain off shore by about 5 miles for the fires near Big Sur the trip was perfect.
Statistics - When we went back East, we spent more time playing with the settings and trying to be "cheap" in the fuel consumption department. On our East Coast trip we burned about 9 to 10 gph. This time we "put our foot in it". Economy was not the issue, but we didn't aggressively lean to extent we did last time. In addition, the hours meter, the only way the SR20 has to record time, was disconnected in DLH and didn't work for the entire trip. However, I did zero the Garmin trip statistics plus I kept pretty close tabs on the time for each leg. This is how the SR20 performed. Total trip distance was 1,828 nm, our average speed (including climbing, approaches, etc) was 136.7 knots. Our maximum was 183 knots … so I like to go fast going "down hill". The total flight time from the Garmin was 13.37 hours, but I recorded "flight time" at over 14 hours. In both cases that does not include taxi or run ups. We consumed 147.4 gallons, which gives an average gph of anywhere from 11.02 to 10.5. I normally add oil at just above the 6 qt level (engine has an 8 qt capacity) and like to run from 7 to 6 qts. The entire trip required one half quart of oil! I was amazed. CHT runs from 350-375 in cruise when leaned to the rich side of peak egt, and about 310-325 when leaned to the lean side of peak. Oil temp was 200-210 in climb with a cht of about 400. I paid careful attention to both CHT and Oil Temp and less attention to the VSI so I can't tell you climb rates at various altitudes. In and around Colorado I was getting climb rates, as I recall, of about 300 to 600 fpm. The 300 of course was at about 12,000 feet. Our climb speeds were always 90 to 110 KIAS depending of CHT and Oil Temp. At altitude we always took off the way I used to fly my Tiger. At about 60 to 65 KIAS you increase back pressure just ever so slightly to lift the nose wheel about 3 inches of the ground and left the plane fly off by itself. The takeoff rolls were clearly longer at altitude and we were loaded, but the SR20 "marched" right out.
I hope this report helps those of you that are interested in performance numbers. I tried to remember most of what I thought would be on interest (and some of which may not be too). Sorry this is so long … so I'll shut up now.